This is the Game We Play

More often than we’d like to admit, many of us have a special spot in our hearts for truly terrible games. Awful, forsaken creations that might never have seen the light of day had we not stumbled across them in some dark alley at an even darker part of our lives. Yet we all stand, alive and breathing. The games we love still giving us hours of enjoyment.

Despite all this, though, there is a lingering sense of unease in the air. We know that these games are bad. The games know that we know better. Still, we play. We walk the fine line between pride and shame daily, thinking of better, faster, stronger ways to play these digital abominations. Maybe the games are poorly built, showing a fragile shell that leaks utter chaos at the slightest crack. Maybe the games are poorly designed, a muddled mass of loading screens, menus, invincible enemies and infinite ammunition.

Some games from this group, though, are special. They run well. They play well. What’s bad about them, then? In truth, it may be the way we look at them and the way we choose to play them. We love these games so much, spend so much time with them, that they become idealized. They evolve from partners to muses and while they don’t change, what we perceive them to be does. Instead of us playing the games’ rules, we now make our own rules based around our twisted view of the game that has us completely absorbed.

In the spirit of loving games and gaming, let us resolve to attack this attitude head-on. If you love something, you must put your whole heart into the target of your affection’s true nature. Don’t deny your love’s faults. Don’t fix what isn’t broken–as a matter of fact, don’t fix something even if it is. We sometimes let love and desire intertwine, the byproduct of which is a smoky miasma that can cloud our vision and distort our hearts. Truly, if you have the space in your heart to devote to a bad game, you can look in the mirror and find the courage to say, “This is the game we play.” Embrace it as it is and live your life loving games.